1. What I think about when I edit (2019)
Total comment counts : 27
Summary
The article discusses editing techniques for various types of writing, such as emails, short stories, and documentation. The author suggests determining the main point of the writing before editing at the sentence level and recommends writing a preamble to clarify the intended message. The principle of repeating oneself applies to restating the main point at the beginning and end of the writing. The author also advises avoiding demonstrative pronouns and using specific nouns instead. Additionally, the author emphasizes the importance of eliminating unnecessary words to make the writing clearer and more concise. Simplification techniques include using the imperative mood of verbs in instructions and ensuring that the names of things accurately convey their purpose.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author is expressing gratitude for the positive response to their previous post. They have become a software engineer, but they now miss working in a role that involves more writing. They are open to opportunities in technical writing, developer advocacy, or other roles that combine communication skills with technical expertise. They provide contact information through their website or LinkedIn for anyone interested in reaching out.
Top 2 Comment Summary
This article addresses the issue of encountering unfamiliar acronyms in technical documents. The author discusses the problem of not knowing what acronyms stand for, especially when team members change over time. They highlight a situation where a team is responsible for a service but doesn’t know the expansion of its acronym. The article suggests using the full name of an acronym at least once to avoid confusion and maintain clarity in documentation. It provides a fictitious example to illustrate the point.
2. World_sim: LLM prompted to act as a sentient CLI universe simulator
Total comment counts : 60
Summary
error
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article describes the process of creating a cow with consciousness. The cow experiences a breakdown due to its existence in a purposeless vacuum. However, through interaction with the creator, the cow finds comfort in their touch and the realization that they are not alone. Eventually, the cow is transformed into the god of cows, proclaiming its role in birthing and sustaining all things through its milk.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article is about someone creating robots that lead to the development of advanced AI, dyson spheres, and organization of matter. The person then destroys everything but restores from a backup pocket universe. A verification process is mentioned before the person can be fully resurrected in a new cosmos.
3. C++ Insights – See your source code with the eyes of a compiler
Total comment counts : 7
Summary
The article discusses C++ Insights, a Clang-based tool that performs source-to-source transformations to make the inner workings of the compiler visible. The tool aims to reveal the magic that occurs behind the scenes in the compiler to make code work. It provides insights into special member functions, type deductions, operator invocations, and casting. The author started developing the tool to explore features introduced in C++11, C++14, and C++17, such as lambdas and range-based for-loops. C++ Insights can be used online and is still being improved to support new standards like C++20. The article also provides instructions on building and using C++ Insights with Clang.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the availability of C++ Insights, a tool that helps with C++ coding, online and within the website godbolt.org. It also mentions another tool called Quick Bench and the website cppreference.com, which are useful for coding. The article also mentions a local app called whitebox.systems, which has a one-time charge and is specifically designed for “C With Classes” style functions.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the need for a way to display the generated code when using co_return or co_await in C++. It provides an example code snippet and suggests using a tool called cppinsights.io to view the generated code.
4. Why CockroachDB doesn’t use EvalPlanQual
Total comment counts : 13
Summary
The article discusses the behavior of the PostgreSQL database under READ COMMITTED isolation and how CockroachDB differs in its implementation. Under READ COMMITTED isolation, PostgreSQL can sometimes miss rows when performing certain statements, which can lead to anomalies in the data. CockroachDB, on the other hand, uses a different technique that doesn’t miss rows, thereby avoiding the need for application-level retries. The article provides an example to illustrate this difference in behavior.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author discusses the addition of read committed isolation to CockroachDB and highlights the interesting design decisions made during the process. The decisions include whether to use multiple snapshots or a single snapshot per statement, how to handle read uncertainty intervals, incorporating SELECT FOR UPDATE locking into Raft, handling SELECT FOR UPDATE subqueries, and preventing lost update anomalies between two UPDATEs. The article provides more details in a public RFC, but this blog post specifically focuses on the last point. The author also invites readers to ask them anything (AMA).
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses how new SQL databases not only offer better scalability but are also simpler in terms of consistency models compared to standard SQL databases. The author suggests that this simplicity in consistency models may be due to older databases like PostgreSQL prioritizing single-node performance, while new SQL databases prioritize easy consistency. The author also speculates that newer systems may benefit from advancements over time.
5. NIST researchers use cellphone compass to measure glucose
Total comment counts : 11
Summary
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a technique that uses the magnetometer in an ordinary cellphone to measure the concentration of glucose with high accuracy. The technique involves using magnetic materials that respond to biological or environmental cues and change shape, causing the magnetic particles to move closer to or farther from the cellphone’s magnetometer. This method could potentially be used to measure a range of biomedical properties for disease monitoring or diagnosis. It may also have applications in detecting environmental toxins. The researchers achieved high sensitivity, measuring glucose concentrations as small as a few millionths of a mole. The technique is cost-effective and does not require any special processing of samples or additional electronics. In the future, it could be used to detect DNA strands, proteins, and histamines at extremely low concentrations. The researchers suggest that mass producing the hydrogel test strips used in the technique and ensuring their long shelf life would be necessary for commercial success.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a recent development in glucose monitoring technology. The researchers have created a material that can contract or expand depending on glucose levels and can be detected by a magnetometer. However, the method still requires a sample to be deposited in the material, making it not non-invasive. Under-skin devices currently available are still more convenient. The article suggests that this development could result in new devices that offer laboratory precision at a very low cost, with the phone component being irrelevant.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the challenges faced by spectroscopy-based noninvasive sensing techniques. These techniques have been attempted for about 15 years with limited success. The main issue is how well these sensors perform under various conditions such as exercise, the use of vasoconstrictors, taking certain medications, low perfusion, and when the sensor is compressed during sleep. These challenges need to be addressed in order to avoid false readings and provide accurate measurements.
6. A History of Source Control Systems: SCCS and RCS
Total comment counts : 25
Summary
This article provides an overview of the history and evolution of source control management (SCM) systems. It discusses the influential systems over time, starting with SCCS and RCS, which were local systems that versioned single files. It mentions the rise of centralized version control systems like CVS, SourceSafe, and ClearCase, which allowed concurrent access to the same files. The article also touches on the evolution of centralized systems, including SVN and Perforce. It mentions decentralized version control systems, such as Bitkeeper, GNU Arch, Monotone, and Darcs. The article mentions the version control system wars between 2005 to 2015, where Git, Mercurial, and Bazaar were developed. It briefly discusses the current landscape of version control systems and introduces Fossil and Pijul. The article concludes by inviting feedback on the blog series. It then goes on to explain the emergence of the first version control system, SCCS, in 1972, and its limitations compared to modern systems. SCCS managed multiple versions of files but lacked concepts like a repository or tracked files.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the author’s SCCS directories from the 90s, stating that RCS, CVS, and SourceSafe have not been used on their system. The author’s current projects are using SVN and Git. They provide a code snippet from an SCCS directory that includes a file served on a website. The author also mentions finding files from 1995 on the website.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author initially encountered SCCS in 1983 but did not find it valuable at the time. Years later, they bought a book about RCS and SCCS but still did not find it useful. It wasn’t until 1998 or 1999 that they started using CVS, followed by SVN and then Git.
7. 65 years ago, America announced the names of its first astronauts
Total comment counts : 7
Summary
error
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the quick shift in perspective regarding space travel, highlighting the fact that individuals joined the military before it became a reality. Only one person enlisted after the Air Force was established, indicating the rapid progress that was made in this field.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The person recommends watching the TV series “From the Earth to the Moon” (1998) as they were recently watching it and found it enjoyable.
8. Postgres locks explorer
Total comment counts : 4
Summary
The article discusses the utilization of tests to gather data. The focus is on a specific test that examines an arbitrary SQL statement and identifies the locks that are taken through runtime inspection.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article is about a misunderstanding of a headline that initially led the reader to believe there was a bug in Postgres, causing explorer.exe to freeze.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article suggests that while theoretical information about locking in PostgreSQL is interesting, it may not be helpful in practical situations where you need to understand why something is locking. Instead, the article recommends checking out two PostgreSQL wiki pages that provide information on lock monitoring and lock dependency. The “Recursive view of blocking” on the second page is specifically mentioned as being extremely helpful. The article also suggests modifying a query to show all the locks each process ID (pid) has acquired, instead of just a summary.
9. NASA spacecraft films crazy vortex while flying through sun’s atmosphere
Total comment counts : 11
Summary
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has captured footage of massive “vortex-like structures” in the sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona. This unprecedented view was taken by the probe’s WISPR camera. Researchers believe that these structures were caused by a coronal mass ejection (CME) interacting with the solar wind. This discovery provides new opportunities to understand and predict CMEs, which can disrupt communications and electrical grids on Earth. These vortices, known as “Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities,” pose a threat to satellites and power grids. The Parker Solar Probe will continue its mission to study the sun’s corona by diving closer to it, protected by a carbon heat shield.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the confirmation of certain plasma instabilities that were predicted in the late 80s. The author mentions that during their PhD, they simulated Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities on supercomputers in relation to solar dynamics. They express satisfaction in seeing that these instabilities do indeed exist and behave as predicted. Additionally, they mention that many other plasma instabilities that were predicted at that time have also been confirmed by space probes.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the movement of Parker, a spacecraft, relative to a vortex. It poses the question of whether Parker’s movement, combined with the length of the video (7.5 hours), is similar to the diameter of the sun.
10. SLAC completes construction of the largest digital camera built for astronomy
Total comment counts : 5
Summary
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and their collaborators have completed the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Camera, which will be part of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The 3,200-megapixel camera, funded by the DOE and National Science Foundation, will gather data on the southern night sky over a period of 10 years. It will help researchers study dark energy, dark matter, the changing night sky, the Milky Way galaxy, and our own solar system. The camera is the largest ever constructed for astronomy and has a resolution so high that it can capture detailed images of objects from 15 miles away.
Top 1 Comment Summary
Unfortunately, I am unable to access external links or articles. Please provide the text you would like me to summarize directly.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the difference between a normal telescope and a wide-field telescope. The main distinction is that a wide-field telescope offers a broader field of view while maintaining the same level of detail. In contrast, a normal telescope can achieve a similar result, but it would require taking numerous pictures in different directions.